Posted by Mr.Recycle
a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis
on Jul 2, 2013 at 10:52 pm

Mattie - it has nothing to do with health insurance. These mandatory vaccines are freely available to those who need them. Note that East Palo Alto has better vaccination rates than Palo Alto. The problem is rich white parents who are scared of autism and other nonsense. They spend more time worrying about plastic bags than their child getting and giving other kids whooping cough (selfish and irresponsible). Some of the lowest vaccination rates in the state are in nicest parts of Marin. Also, private schools almost always have lower rates than public schools.

Thank you for the link Mr Recycle. To clarify, the percentages listed above are the children who have completed AND documented FOUR doses of polio, FIVE doses of diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, TWO doses of measles, mumps, rubella, THREE doses of hep B, and a dose of chickenpox, within prescribed time intervals.

Apparently 68 of the 84 Fairmeadow kids missed or couldn't document one of them, or haven't quite finished the courses, and are noted as "Conditional Entrants" requiring follow-up. Maybe somebody there was more picky on the paperwork or vague on the instructions. Clearly an outlier that should have an explanation. Interesting.

Notes also show that NONE of the Fairmeadow parents have filed for a "Personal Belief Exemption." Those exercising that privilege are primarily at Addison and Walter Hayes, with Ohlone, Briones and Escondido as runners up.

Posted by Tdapper
a resident of Old Palo Alto
on Jul 3, 2013 at 2:54 pm

Many health insurance plans do NOT include vaccinations for kids over the age of three years. many of the bare-bones plans that employers give do not cover vaccinations at all, for adults or kids. When my daughter was pregnant, her obstetrician told me I would have to be vaccinated for Rubella, Measles, Hep A,B, and C, as well as TdaP, or I would not be allowed by Lucille Packard Choldren's Hospital to hold the baby!!!!

I have a pretty good plan through Aetna, but they would not pay for any of these vaccines. If an epidemic is eminent, the local health departments should hold clinics to give them out for free to middle or low income families!

Posted by RJR
a resident of another community
on Jul 11, 2013 at 10:57 am

I read the article about high pertussis infection rates when I picked up a P. A. Weekly in front of a local restaurant and was surprised that I did not see anything about the cause for this in the article (July 5 issue). I'm glad that the posts above focus on the likely cause- failure of parents to immunize their children. It is a credit to East Palo Alto, and a disgrace to uncaring Palo Alto parents that this situation exists. Your newspaper should have pointed out this sorry situation in the article.

Posted by Such Eejits
a resident of Palo Alto High School
on Feb 4, 2015 at 5:53 pm

Even though the man who produced the report that accused certain vaccines of causing autism ADMITTEDLY that he lied ten years later, and lost his medical license, many people STILL believe that report to be utterly truthful. Jenny Mc Carthy has been a major proponent of this ( damn her eyes!).

Please make note there is a serious flu epidemic in the Bay Area, with a record number of children and elderly hospitalized with complications from it, such as pneumonia. Sure, the flu vaccine was ineffective this year, but there are two new pneumonia vaccines: one that covers 13 types of pneumonia, and one for the elderly that covers 23 types ( Pneumovax only covers three-- immigration and world travel have made it obsolete). Everyone should get one of the new pneumonia vaccines as well as updating Hep A, B, C; Tdap; MMR; polio; and if over 60, herpes zoster ( shingles).

Also, anyone over 65 can either get two flu shots per year, six months apart, or the new double-strength flu vaccine.

Posted by Mr.Recycle
a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis
on Feb 5, 2015 at 11:31 am

The assistants giving injections are truly experts. Think of flu season, where they do hundreds a day. A doctor doesn't have any particular expertise in giving shots. You want someone who has done it a lot to do it, not someone who studied it in school.